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Threats and expletives derailed plans for a Conejo Valley Unified School District board meeting on Tuesday when a virtual meeting system was taken over by online trolls.

Minutes before the school board meeting was set to begin on Zoom, a virtual events platform, the screen and microphone were taken over by images of Adolf Hitler and racial slurs. There were also threats made to board members and their children in this so-called "Zoombombing."

"They hijacked the screen and the mic couldn't be disabled," said Cindy Goldberg, school board president.

Goldberg was among several other district officials who were inside the board room. Other board members were joining the virtual meeting off-site.

The school district has contacted local law enforcement to determine who is responsible for the incident.

With social distancing protocols enacted because of the coronavirus spread, most public agencies are hosting online meetings and some use Zoom. Many teachers are also using Zoom for online classes.

According to a statement released on Wednesday by Superintendent Mark McLaughlin, district officials had worked in conjunction with the Ventura County Office of Education to make sure security and functionality of the platform were in place. Several mock meetings were held in the morning to make sure they ran smoothly.

"In this case, the district’s due diligence did not prevent the Zoombombing from occurring, and for that the district deeply apologizes," McLaughlin wrote.

The district had shared the link to the virtual meeting on Tuesday's agenda and provided instructions on how the public could comment. At 5 p.m., a closed session meeting took place on Zoom without any problems.

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Susan Robinson, cafeteria manager for Conejo Valley Unified School District serves lunch to children from the area of Conejo Elementary. The van was serving lunch to any children that came to the parking lot of the school. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

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Susan Robinson, cafeteria manager for Conejo Valley Unified School District and Sue Jellison, in back, child nutrition assistant helps put lunch items in bags at Conejo Elementary. The van was serving lunch to any children that came to the parking lot of the school. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

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Dr. Robert Levin, Ventura County public health officer, talks about the coronavirus quarantine center at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu during a news conference on Wednesday. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR

Dr. Robert McDonald, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, talks about the coronavirus quarantine center at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu during a news conference on Wednesday. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR

Dr. Robert McDonald, center, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, talks about the coronavirus quarantine center at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu during a news conference on Wednesday. McDonald was joined by Dr. Robert Levin, of Ventura County Public Health, and Jeanne Eckes, the incident manager from U.S. Health and Human Services. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR

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A coronavirus quarantine site has been started at Naval Base Ventura County. The site will be used by people who fly into LAX after visiting places where they could have been exposed. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR

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Last week, the San Jose-based company outlined in its Zoom Blog ways to prevent these online crashers.

"When you share your meeting link on social media or other public forums, that makes your event … extremely public. Anyone with the link can join your meeting," according to the blog.

In the blog, Zoom offered tips to control screen sharing and enable safety features.

The school board meeting, which was expected to include a discussion on school closures due to the coronavirus and the authorization of borrowing funds through a cash reserve program, never took place. It's unclear when the district will hold a rescheduled meeting.

In his message, McLaughlin assured the community that virtual Zoom classes used by teachers with invited participants are different from public meetings, which have unlimited participants. McLaughlin said the district is providing additional training to stress the safeguards for the virtual classrooms.